Comanche Territory

Before Maureen O'Hara got spanked on film by John Wayne for her shrewish behavior, she got kicked in the behind several times by Macdonald Carey(as newcomer Jim Bowie), while pinned under a table in a saloon fight. This was in retaliation for her general hostile attitude toward him and her refusal to cash his bank draft as president of the bank or as owner of the saloon in the frontier town of Crooked Tongue in Comanche territory, presumably somewhere in Texas in the 1830s. Probably, the town name had the same meaning to the Comanche as 'forked tongue': their impression of most Europeans. Well, Maureen, as character Katie Howard, had a right to be angry with this stranger, 'cause he busted up her show of riding from one end of town to the other without spilling 2 mugs of beer on a tray she was holding. He claimed it was accidental, but it didn't look that way to me or her. Also, he addressed her as 'a lady', which she took offense to(apparently preferring to be thought of more like a man). The give and take between Carey, or sometimes another, and Maureen provides most of the humorous aspects of this colorful Technicolor Western. I say colorful because Maureen is quite colorful in both a physical and personality sense. She even gets to sing a folk song in a saloon setting. In addition, the abundant outdoors scenes were mostly shot in the colorful Oak Canyon region, near Sedona, AZ. In several shots, the postcard Cathedral Rocks are clearly in the background.

You won't find a character listed in the credits as Davy Crocket, so why do I claim such in my title? One of the main characters is Daniel Seeger, played by Will Geer. In his eastern formal dress and top hat, he doesn't look anything like Fess Parker's later coonskin-capped film Davy Crocket. But he claims to be a long time frontiersman, Indian fighter/trader and sometimes congressman, and sports what looks like a Kentucky rifle. What historical figure who went to Texas and became a friend of Jim Bowie fits this description? Will Geer was quite a diverse character, with a degree in horticulture, a sometimes folk singer and always a willing advocate for radical political reform. In consequence, he would soon be blacklisted as a result of congressional communist witch hunting. But not before acting as Don O'Connor's buddy in the pirate spoof "Double Crossbones".

You may not be familiar with Carey as a Western leading man. I was not. He rather reminds me of Ray Milland. He may have lacked the larger-than-life physical image of the top Western leading men, but he proved a scrappy adversary of the evil and wrong-headed elements in this story, and his character eventually managed to make a friend out of Maureen's belligerent character, sealed in the parting shot, which you will like.

Now, what's all this talk about treaties between the US government and the Comanches? Remember, Texas at this time was still part of Mexico and would not become part of the US for another decade. Nonetheless, Sam Houston did arrive in Texas in 1833 to try to arrange a treaty between the US and Comanches. Mexican authorities were not amused and booted him out for a while. All the shenanigans in the film about disappearing and prospective treaty papers are pretty silly, although they form an important part of the plot.

What's all the fuss about a big silver strike in Comanche territory, that also is the central issue in the plot? I'm not aware of any such historical silver strike. However, it does have a slight historical basis. The real Jim Bowie did lead an expedition to central Texas in search of some diggings by Native Americans and , later, Mexicans, reputed to have yielded silver. But, nothing of consequence resulted. The screenplay story is quite different.

Overall, I found this quite an enjoyable film, with lots of humor, colorful characters, both hostile and friendly relations with Comanches, and insider, as well as outsider, badman elements. Most of the Comanches looked like real NAs. Probably, Quisima: the chief, is a corruption of the name of the last free Comanche chief: Quanah, historically relevant not for several decades later. The firearms generally had the look of the flintlocks of this period.

Along with "Against All Flags", and "The Redhead from Wyoming", released a couple years later, Maureen's character in this film allows her to be at her most charming shrewish spitfire self, and thus my favorite incarnations of her. Rather reminds me of my wife. Her spars with favorite leading man John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" and the much later "McClintock" may be much better known, but I prefer these two much shorter Universal films, which are now available as parts of cheap DVD sets of some lesser known films of that era.

George Sherman was definitely a western maker, though he has not made only this, he had a very prolific filmography. But westerns were a domain where he was very gifted. This one makes no exception, but the plot brings nothing really new, except terrific natural settings. I was lucky enough to see it is a awesome LBX frame and not in a f...pan and f...scan copy. Yes, a good western, full of charm and fifties atmosphere. Dana Andrews rarely played in westerns; we especially remember him in OXBOW INCIDENT. This western was curiously not produced by Universal Studios for which George Sherman made so many of his westerns: BATTLE AT APACHE PASS, COMANCHE TERRITORY, LAST OF THE FAST GUNS...

This little-seen quasi-Western from 1950 stars McDonald Carey as Jim Bowie helping his friends, the Indians, from an army of marauding white men out to steal Indian land for its silver. The action is set well before the Civil War, so it is improper to call this a Western, although on the meager budget this was shot on, there are plenty of classic Western outfits on display throughout. Carey is at his prime here, and makes for a virile and resourceful Bowie. An absolutely stunning and very youthful Maureen O'Hara is his feisty love interest, who initially is all for white folks taking over Indian land. She wears some silly outfits that look like they came from a Roy Rogers flick, but she also gets to wear at least one formal dress that shows off her distinctive assets. She also gets to put on quite a brogue, enough so that you might think you're watching THE QUIET MAN from time to time. All in all, a fun "B" flick of a type now long forgotten.

A handsome, good-humoured Technicolor western about Jim Bowie, this time played by a laconic Macdonald Carey aided by wily old chum Will Geer.

Feisty, buckskin-wearing female lead Maureen O'Hara later recalled it as "a fairly decent western and the film in which I mastered the American bullwhip. By the time the picture was over, I could snap a gigarette out of someone's mouth".

Comanche Territory is directed by George Sherman and written by Oscar Brodney and Lewis Meltzer. It stars Maureen O'Hara, Macdonald Carey, Will Geer and Charles Drake. Music is by Frank Skinner and cinematography by Maury Gertsman.

A government treaty set up to protect sacred Comanche land is due to expire, just as silver has been found beneath the mountains on the land. James Bowie (Carey) has been sent to negotiate a new treaty with the Comanche leaders, thus allowing the silver to be mined without upsetting the Indians. But there are underhand plans being drawn up by settlers in the town of Crooked Tongue, a town run by feisty Katie Howard (O'Hara). Can Bowie prevent the pillaging of the sacred Indian land? Something that will inevitably lead to blood being shed…...

Good solid B Western that gets in and does its job without pretension or pointless filler. Shot in Technicolor and filmed impressively on location in Sedona, Arizona (Big & Little Parks/Red Rock), it's a film that offers an interesting story and a good sprinkling of action. Cast are mostly fine, Geer files in for the Arthur Hunnicut/Walter Brennan type role, O'Hara is spunky and a Technicolor picture (check out that gorgeous black and green frock sequence) and Carey, whilst hardly a convincing or robust Jim Bowie, plays it with restraint and works off of Geer and O'Hara rather well. The action is competently staged by old pro Sherman, who also doesn't let the pace sag, and Gertsman's photography of the landscapes (particularly Red Rock) is the high point of the production.

Problems? Well Charles Drake as Katie Howard's crooked brother turns him into a pretty tepid villain, while the big saloon punch-up is beset by amateurish punch throwing. There's also the issue of non Native American actors playing Indians, which once in a while in the 50s did throw up the odd good turn, however here isn't one of them. Though in fairness they aren't helped by the script, which doesn't exactly give the Comanche characters some telling dialogue to impact on proceedings. Good to report that Pegasus' DVD release contains a very good print, there's the odd moment of colour fluctuation, but by and large it's a neat transfer. Though you may want to slightly tone down your colour setting since Sherman and Gertsman have gone for the high contrast option for the Technicolor filters! 6.5/10